trick-or-treating at the mall

We are going to take DS to the mall tonight to go trick-or-treating for his first time. Sometimes hes good with other people..sometimes not so much. We thought this might give us an idea, and prepare him for tomarrow with older kids a long with the younger kids being dressed up.

The mall is mostly just little kids right? Is it just someone sitting outside the stores passing out candy/treats?

ugh, I didn't even think about that. We live on a base too..so Im sure it will be crazy packed. Well..hes only 18months, he won't notice if we leave within a few stops..but..I wanted to get a bra too lol

We had great luck with my son when he was 1 at the mall. He had a bunch of sensory issues and can get upset by crowds, but not being cold, seeing lots of fun things, and having his familiar play area to go "decompress" at was the ticket for him.

We took both kids last year to the mall for trick or treating and I will never do it again! It's was so crowded, many of the stores were out of candy by the time we went (30 minutes after it started). It was just a mess.

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I have kids.... Where's my cookie?

My philosophy on acceptance from other people is: "F*** other people".-Raven

Our mall had trick or treating on Thursday. I made sure to be there a little early and we got about half way through the mall before it got too crowded. My daughter is nervous about approaching people and the other kids would push or run in front of her when she was trying to get candy and she didn't like that much, so she started asking me to get the candy for her. The event was 6-9, we arrived about 10 til 6. It started getting really crowded about 6:15. We didn't stay too long, but she was happy with the candy she got, especially since all she really likes are suckers and tootsie rolls. For ours some of the stores had people outside handing out candy and others you had to go in the store. If they were participating they had a sign. The areas in front of the department stores had some games and crafts to participate in.

I have never had any problems with mall TOTing. People basically make a loop around the mall. The stores that participate will have an employee(s) standing right out front so you don't ahve to go in the store to get the candy. Not having a person at the front of the store is the equivalent of turning your porch light out. Either that store is not participating or they are out of candy.

The mall here does not set any age limits. There is a mix of ages of the TOTers, but I think the oldest kids are middle schoolers. I still consider that to be an appropriate age. You just have to join in the line near whatever entrance you come in at and start making the loop. Some of the candy is better than others, but to me that is the same thing you would find doing door to door.